CURSE OF THE BLOOD MOON

“I’m sorry, but I had to do it.”

Scarlet sat on the grass her white gown spreading all over, covering the green grass. This was her life now. This was how her life was going to be.

“I’m going to be lying in that bed alone night after night, wondering if you are still alive. Wondering that would be the day you were coming home.” She quickly brushed away the tears rolling down her cheeks. “What are you going to tell SJ?”

She had moved past her feelings and to their son’s. Unlike her, he wouldn’t understand what or why he was leaving. She felt sorry for him, he had only been with his father for four days and now he was leaving.

“I will explain to him. I’ll tell him what he needs to know.” He stood next to her, helplessly looking at the pain he had caused her.

Scarlet anger passed and a wave of fear took over. She took a second to think about what he was saying to her and in that same heartbeat, a horrible thought crossed her mind.

“Do they know about my baby?” she was already thinking of how she was going to escape once again to protect her only child.

“No.” Stephan smoothed the loose hair back, “They don’t know about our son and I promise you nothing will hurt him.”

Scarlet knew that she had used the word my because it was true. SJ was his son but would always be her baby. She had carried him inside her for twelve and survived the birth.

She was his only parent when he wasn’t there and now that he was leaving again she was going back to single parenthood.

She knew SJ would be crushed when he left again, but there wasn’t anything any of them could do. Stephan had made up his mind and he was adamant about it. He believed he was protecting them this way, and when it came to their safety he never took any chances.

“You need to come back. You-,” Scarlet choked on her tears. She couldn’t get the words she needed to say out of her mouth, so she gave up and wept into her satin gown.

“Shh! I will try. I promise you that.” he sat behind her and held her close to his chest.

***

“Stephan, we need to talk.” Xavier was standing behind them, his voice and expression troubled.

“I’m listening.” He didn’t move from where he was, his priority was Scarlet and as much as he understood the gravity of the situation, he couldn’t give him his full attention.

“Solara has informed me of what you are planning to do, and I am very uncomfortable with it.”

“You don’t have to worry. Their warriors are useless and there isn’t much that I can do for them.” Stephan had seen them train once when he was at the fortress and their skills left a lot to be desired.

“What if they ask you to lead them to battle? What then?” Xavier was concerned coming up against Stephan wasn’t something he was looking forward to.

“Help me up, I’ll go check on SJ and leave you two to talk.” Scarlet leaned on Stephan’s arms as he lifted her off the ground.

“You look beautiful in that dress. Don’t take it off just yet.”

Scarlet gave him a weak smile then shuffled to the house. She had plenty to think about and listening to Xavier’s problems wasn’t going to help her.

“Xavier, do not concern yourself with that at the moment. I told Solara to call you here so that I could let you know.” Stephan was trying to sell him something he wouldn’t buy himself.

“If you come against us, I will have no choice, Stephan. I have to protect my people. I hope you understand that.” Xavier had formed a bond with Stephan and didn’t want the vampires to be the reason for their fallout.

“We need to come up with a plan. I was thinking it would be better if your men are prepared to fight at any time. Although I will warn you on what they decide.”

“Then what?” Xavier wasn’t sure where Stephan’s plan was headed to.

“Then I switch sides and we fight together.” Stephan knew that was his only chance of being free of the Council. If they didn’t have an army to protect them, they would be too preoccupied with their safety to worry about him.

“Won’t they know what you are planning?” Sam joined in on the conversation. The others had come with him, they were also concerned about Stephan’s plan.

“Leo is the only one who could know what I’m doing. We are very close so he can tell if I’m training the warriors or not.”

“He was in the Council when I left there.” Victor didn’t trust any member of the Council.

“Yes, but he won’t betray me. I only have to worry about Zen.” Stephan knew that Zen would be watching his every move.

“Zen, what does he have to do with this?”

“Zen is Marquis’s pet, he does anything she asks him to. Solara, Marquis is the one who ordered the execution of your sister.” Stephan knew the risk of telling him this, but he hoped he wouldn’t let his anger control him.

“Let me guess, she was jealous. I’ll kill her.” Solara’s fingers balled into fists at his sides.

“That’s fine with me but you can’t do it now. I need to sort this out, but I can only do this when I get back. Until then gentlemen thank you for attending my wedding.”

“Scarlet looked miffed when she walked into the house, what did you do?” Vincent had always cared for Scarlet and her mood hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“I told her I had to go to Rio and she isn’t taking it too well.” He left them in the yard discussing the impending clash of their two species.

Stephan found Scarlet in the kitchen with Kayla and SJ. He watched from the door, admiring the beautiful sight of his wife, still in her gown and his son who had once again insisted on taking off his shirt.

They were his life now and he had to do all he could to protect them. He knew leaving them would cause them pain but he had to do it for them. The elders would take out their anger on them and Marquis would relish Scarlet’s death.

“I don’t understand why you would choose to tie yourself to her. She’s weak.” Nikki was watching him watch his family and the look of awe on his face made her stomach turn.

“You shouldn’t have come to witness it then.” Stephan was getting exasperated with her. “She isn’t weak. She is the strongest person I know.”

“Oh please, she couldn’t even handle a little blood.” She put her hand on his back. “Now you have her etched on your back.”

“Nikki what is it you want. We went through this and I think once was enough. Don’t you?” he shook her hand off his back. She was tainting the reason for his actions and he didn’t like it.

“If that is what you want I won’t interfere. But if not...”

“Nikki,” Scarlet called from the kitchen. She hadn’t taken her eyes off SJ but was listening.

“I forgot about the tweaking.” She was referring to Scarlet’s improved senses. She swayed out of the house and to the yard where the others were.

Scarlet walked to the room with SJ on her hip. She looked up at Stephan but didn’t say a word.

Stephan felt uneasy, it was their wedding day and ever since they said their vows, something always managed to upset Scarlet.

“Thanks for the save.” He held out his arms to SJ and he eagerly climbed into them.

Scarlet’s stare hadn’t wavered, her eyes narrowed at him and her lips frowned a little. Stephan turned his attention to his son in an attempt to escape her gaze.

“Soon you will be too big to carry.”

“SJ, go get cleaned up, and please put on a shirt.” Scarlet helped him down ignoring his father’s slight resistance.

As SJ ran up the stairs Kayla decided to excuse herself. She could hear Solara’s thoughts and they troubled her.

“What are you going to tell him? Where are you going this time?” Scarlet needed to know his cover story, in case SJ asked her. SJ was five weeks old but wasn’t clueless. He understood everything they said and he was sure to notice an inconsistent story.

“I don’t know yet. I’m not thinking about that right now.” Stephan wasn’t planning on telling his son the news until the moment he was leaving. He didn’t think he could bear witnessing his disappointment. Scarlet’s sadness was searing through him.

“You need to think about it.”

She breezed past him, but he only caught her. He was much faster than she was, so she never had any chance of outrunning him unless he let her.

He pulled her back against his chest. His hands soothed up from her waist to her shoulders then back down over her back. He sniffed in her scent holding in his breath for a couple of seconds before exhaling.

Scarlet could feel her body tremble and when she heard him chuckle, she knew he did too. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, she was trying to regain control of her body, but she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried, her body betrayed her every time he held her that close to him.

“Where are you going?” he groaned into her neck, his warm breath making her body tingle even more.

“To see if SJ is-,” her thought trailed off.

“Stephan Junior is just fine. How are you?” Stephan knew exactly how she was. He loved having that sort of power over her.

“Stephan you need to stop what you are doing. SJ will be back any second now.” She was struggling to catch her breath.

“Fine, but once he’s asleep our honeymoon starts.” He kissed the back of her neck before releasing her.